The Kyocera DuraForce is an adventure-ready Android smartphone that strikes a nice balance between price and performance.

Kyocera's latest ruggedized smartphoneshave bucked the trend of settling for dated specs in exchange for serious durability. The Brigadier on Verizon is one of the most impressive ruggedized smartphones we've tested, beating everyone to the punch with a scratch-proof, sapphire-clad display. The Kyocera DuraForce, AT&T's version of the Brigadier, maintains most of the same specs, but loses out on that headlining feature. Still, at $49.99 (with a two-year contract), the DuraForce is an attractively priced ruggedized phone that offers performance and features that match typical midrange Android smartphones. It's a great choice for when phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active just aren't physically extreme enough.

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Design, Features, and Call QualityLike most rugged phones, the DuraForce is a chunky, rubbery affair, measuring in at 5.39 by 2.78 by 0.55 inches (HWD) and 7.06 ounces. It's slightly larger and heavier than the Brigadier and doesn't look quite as aggressive—the DuraForce is the more unassuming of the two, while the Brigadier takes on a more military-ready look. Volume keys and a programmable button line the left edge, while Power and Speaker buttons are on top. The latter enables a boosted speakerphone mode for phone calls. Flaps cover the headphone jack and micro USB port on the top and bottom, respectively. The right edge houses a flap covering the microSD and SIM card slots.

The DuraForce carries MIL-STD 810G and IP68 ratings, meaning it can survive drops of up to four feet onto hard surfaces and can be fully immersed in six feet of water for up to 30 minutes. I submerged the phone in a pitcher of water for over an hour and saw no ill effects. I also tossed the DuraForce about the labs, slammed it into countertops, and gave it a few light kicks outdoors for good measure. It emerged with nothing more than some scuffs and scratches.

Though it lacks the same sapphire crystal as the Brigadier, the Duraforce's 4.5-inch, 720p LCD looks otherwise identical. It's bright and sharp (326ppi) with a wide viewing angle—a high-quality panel, but nothing particularly special. Below the display is a row of physical Android navigation buttons with two front-facing speakers below that. The speakers pump out impressive volume that I'd put at a notch below the HTC One (M8)'s speakers.

The DuraForce connects to AT&T's 3G GSM/UMTS (850/900/1800/1900/2100MHz) and 4G LTE (Bands 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 17) networks, which covers the full range of AT&T's nationwide network. In our latest Fastest Mobile Networks tests, AT&T's LTE network averaged 11.9Mbps down and 6.3Mbps up. The DuraForce uses the same Sonic Receiver technology that Kyocera's been using for its rugged phones for the past few years. It uses tissue conduction to transmit audio through the phone's glass screen to your eardrums. Call quality, as we've found with Sonic Receiver devices before, is pretty hit or miss. It does a really nice job at delivering eardrum-busting volume for overcoming even the noisiest scenarios, but voices coming through the glass can sound unnatural and lack depth. Transmissions through the mic sound a touch harsh, and random audio artifacts are not uncommon. The speakerphone with boosted volume mode is quite impressive, which should appeal to the construction site set.

Rounding out the connectivity options are dual-band 802.11b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and NFC. The DuraForce had no issue connecting to a 5GHz access point in my tests, and paired seamlessly with an Era by Jawbone Bluetooth headset.

Performance and AndroidWith an all-too-common Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC, here clocked at 1.4GHz, the DuraForce delivers equal performance to similarly equipped phones like the LG G3 Vigor. Overall system performance is snappy, and games like Asphalt 8 are playable, if a bit jittery. You won't notice any appreciable performance difference between the DuraForce and a whole host of midrange Android phones using the same chip.

In a battery rundown test, where we streamed a YouTube video over LTE with screen brightness set to max, the DuraForce was good for an impressive 6 hours, 6 minutes. It's not quite up to the Samsung Galaxy S5's 7 hours in the same test, but it easily beats the iPhone 6, which lasted 4 hours, 33 minutes.

Kyocera makes some heavy visual tweaks to Android 4.4, but you won't find endless features buried in the settings like some other skins. I like the preloaded widgets, which include things like a large, customizable one for shortcuts or quick settings changes. You can enable an extra sensitivity mode for gloved-hand use, and that widget is especially handy for that purpose. Digging into the menus reveals two power saving options, which scale back functionality and connectivity options to extend battery life. The left-mounted button is customizable, allowing you to assign a number of functions. You can set it to launch any installed app, initiate a Google voice search, and open the notification shade, but you can't set it to wake the phone from sleep.

Of the 16GB of internal storage, 11.2GB is available to users out of the box. That storage can be expanded via microSD cards up to 32GB. Preloaded apps include Yellow Pages, Wild Tangent Games, Beats Music, and every AT&T-branded app under the sun.

Camera and ConclusionsKyocera doesn't have the best track record when it comes to camera performance, and that trend remains unchanged for the DuraForce. The 8-megapixel rear-facing camera takes suitably crisp shots outdoors and in ideal lighting, but anything short of that starts to adversely affect image quality. Shots start to look especially waxy under low indoor light. Exposure was hit or miss as well, and dynamic range was sorely lacking, blowing out highlights and leaving shadowy details an indistinct mess. Video tops out at 1080p, but try to use it indoors and frame rates quickly drop, while graininess becomes overwhelming. The 2-megapixel, front-facing camera is serviceable for video calls, but it takes pretty subpar selfies.

Ruggedized smartphones run the gamut from the flagship-level performance and svelte construction of a phone like the Galaxy S5 Active, to oversized, ultra-rugged devices like the Sonim XP7. The Kyocera DuraForce sits at a nice middle ground, offering extreme durability in a package that mostly resembles and functions like your typical Android smartphone. And at just $50 on contract, it's a better deal than either of those aforementioned phones; the S5 Active goes for $200 on contract, while the Sonim XP7 is only available unlocked for $579. While I would have liked to see the sapphire crystal carry over from the Verizon Brigadier, the Kyocera DuraForce is still a great option for construction workers and adventure junkies alike.

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About the Author

Before joining the consumer electronics team at PCMag, Eugene worked at local news station NY1 doing everything from camera work to writing scripts. He grew up in Montclair, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010. Outside of work Eugene enjoys TV, loud music, and making generally healthy and responsible life choices.

Kyocera DuraForce (AT&T)

Kyocera DuraForce (AT&T)

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